helicopter

See also: helicòpter

English

A helicopter (flying machine).

a samara or helicopter

Etymology

Borrowed from French hélicoptère, from Ancient Greek ἕλιξ (hélix, “spiral”) + πτερόν (pterón, “wing”). Doublet of helicopteron. The dragonfly sense is from a dragonfly's ability to hover and fly in any direction, like the manmade flying machine.

Pronunciation

(General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈheliˌkɔptə(ɹ)/
(UK) IPA^(key): /ˈhɛl.iˌkɒp.tə(ɹ)/, /ˈhɛl.ɪˌkɒp.tə(ɹ)/
(US) IPA^(key): /ˈhɛlɨˌkɑptɚ/
Audio (AU) (file)

Noun

helicopter (plural helicopters)

(aviation) An aircraft that is borne along by one or more sets of long rotating blades which allow it to hover, move in any direction including reverse, or land; and typically having a smaller set of blades on its tail that stabilize the aircraft.
We flew over the city in a helicopter.
A powered troweling machine with spinning blades used to spread concrete.
(botany) The winged fruit of certain trees, such as ash, elm, and maple.
(zoology, slang) A dragonfly.
A whirling trick performed with devil sticks.

Synonyms

(aircraft): chopper (informal), copter (informal), eggbeater (slang), heli (informal), helo (military, slang), rotary-wing aircraft (technical), whirlybird (slang)
(trowelling device): power trowel, trowel machine
(winged fruit): samara, whirlybird

Derived terms

attack helicopter
black helicopter
Chinese helicopter
free helicopter ride
helicopter bucket
helicopter carrier
helicopter drop
helicopter mom
helicopter money
helicopter parent
helicopter parenting
roflcopter

Descendants

→ Cebuano: helikopter
→ Malay: helikopter
→ Tagalog: helikopter

Translations

aircraft

Afrikaans: helikopter
Albanian: helikopter (sq) m
Arabic: طَائِرَة عَامُودِيَّة‎ f (ṭāʾira ʿāmūdiyya), هِلِيكُوبْتَر‎ m (helikobtar), حَوَّامَة‎ f (ḥawwāma)
Armenian: ուղղաթիռ (hy) (ułłatʿiṙ)
Aromanian: ilicupter n, elicupter
Asturian: helicópteru (ast) m
Azerbaijani: vertolyot (az), helikopter (az)
Basque: helikoptero
Belarusian: верталёт (be) m (vjertaljót), гелікаптэ́р m (hjelikaptér), геліко́птэр m (hjelikópter)
Bengali: হেলিকোপটার (helikopôṭar)
Breton: biñsaskell (br) f
Bulgarian: хелико́птер (bg) m (helikópter), вертоле́т (bg) m (vertolét)
Burmese: ဟယ်လီကော့ပတာ (my) (hailikau.pa.ta), ရဟတ်ယာဉ် (my) (ra.hatyany)
Catalan: helicòpter (ca) m
Chechen: беркема (berkema)
Chinese:
Cantonese: 直升機 or 直昇機, 直升机 (zik⁶ sing¹ gei¹)
Hakka: 直升機 or 直昇機, 直升机 (chhṳ̍t-sṳ̂n-kî)
Mandarin: 直升機／直升机 (zh) or 直昇機／直升机 (zh) (zhíshēngjī)
Min Nan: 直升機 (zh-min-nan), 直昇機, 直升机 (ti̍t-seng-ki)
Wu: 直升機 or 直昇機, 直升机 (zeq sen ji)
Cornish: askel dro f
Czech: vrtulník (cs) m, helikoptéra (cs) f
Danish: helikopter (da) c
Dutch: helikopter (nl) m, wentelwiek (nl) f
Elfdalian: elikopter m
Esperanto: helikoptero
Estonian: helikopter (et)
Faroese: tyrla (fo) f
Finnish: helikopteri (fi)
French: hélicoptère (fr) m
Galician: helicóptero (gl) m
Georgian: ვერტმფრენი (verṭmpreni), შვეულმფრენი (šveulmpreni)
German: Hubschrauber (de) m, Helikopter (de) m
Greek: ελικόπτερο (el) n (elikóptero)
Greenlandic: helikopteri, qulimiguulik
Guaraní: vevehajere
Hebrew: מַסּוֹק‎ (he) m (masók)
Hindi: हेलिकॉप्टर m (helikŏpṭar)
Hungarian: helikopter (hu)
Icelandic: þyrla (is) f, þyrilvængja f (obsolete), kofti m (obsolete)
Ido: helikoptero (io)
Indonesian: helikopter (id)
Interlingua: helicoptero
Irish: héileacaptar, ingearán m
Italian: elicottero (it) m
Sicilian: elicòttiru m
Japanese: ヘリコプター (ja) (herikoputā), ヘリ (ja) (heri)
Jarawa: čokogere, ŋeŋeŋe
Karakalpak: vertolyot, tikushar
Kazakh: тікұшақ (tıkūşaq)
Khmer: អេលីកុបទែរ (ʼeeliikoptɛɛ), អេលីកូ (ʼeeliikou), ឧទ្ធម្ភាគចក្រ (ʼutthŏəmphiəkĕəʼcak)
Korean: 헬리콥터 (ko) (hellikopteo), 헬기(機) (ko) (helgi), 직승비행기(直昇飛行機) (jikseungbihaenggi) (North Korea), 직승기(直昇機) (ko) (jikseunggi) (North Korea)
Kurdish:
Northern Kurdish: helîkopter (ku) f
Kyrgyz: тик учак (tik uçak)
Lao: ເອລີກົບເທີ (ʼē lī kop thœ̄), ເຮລິຄອບແຕ (hē li khǭp tǣ), ເຮລີກົບແຕ (lo) (hē lī kop tǣ)
Latin: helicopterum (la) n
Latvian: helikopters f
Lithuanian: sraigtasparnis m, (rare) helikopteris m
Livonian: helikoptõr
Luxembourgish: Helikopter m
Macedonian: вр́толет m (vŕtolet), хелико́птер (mk) m (helikópter)
Malay: helikopter
Maltese: ħelikopter m
Maori: waka hurihuri, waka kōporo
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: нисдэг тэрэг (nisdeg tereg), эгч нисгэл (egč nisgel) (China)
Mongolian: ᠨᠢᠰᠳᠡᠭ
ᠲᠡᠷᠭᠡ (nisdeg terge), ᠡᠭᠴᠡ
ᠨᠢᠰᠬᠡᠯ (eɣče niskel)
Navajo: bikááʼ náʼoobałí
Newar: बुइँचाखः (buĩcākha:)
Northern Sami: helekopter, helikopter
Norwegian:
Bokmål: helikopter (no) n
Nynorsk: helikopter n
Occitan: elicoptèr (oc) m
Pali: vyoma-yānavisesa m
Pashto: چورلکه‎ (ps) f (čurláka)
Persian: بالگرد‎ (fa) (bâlgard), هلیکوپتر‎ (fa) (helikôpter)
Polish: śmigłowiec (pl) m inan, helikopter (pl) m inan
Portuguese: helicóptero (pt) m
Punjabi: ਹੈਲੀਕਾਪਟਰ m (hailīkāpṭar)
Quechua: pillwinkumpa
Romanian: elicopter (ro) n
Romansch: helicopter m
Russian: вертолёт (ru) m (vertoljót), геликопте́р (ru) m (gelikoptɛ́r) (dated), гелико́птер (ru) m (gelikóptɛr) (dated)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: хелико̀птер m
Roman: helikòpter (sh) m
Slovak: vrtuľník m
Slovene: helikopter (sl) m
Sorbian:
Upper Sorbian: helikopter m
Sotho: helikopotare (st)
Spanish: helicóptero (es) m, autogiro (es) m
Swahili: helikopta (sw)
Swedish: helikopter (sv) c
Tagalog: helikopter, elikoptero
Tajik: чархбол (čarxbol)
Tamil: உலங்கு வானூர்தி (ta) (ulaṅku vāṉūrti)
Tatar: боралак (boralaq)
Thai: เฮลิคอปเตอร์ (th) (hee-lí-kɔ́p-dtə̂ə)
Tibetan: ཐད་འཕུར་གནམ་གྲུ (thad 'phur gnam gru), ཧེ་ལེ་ཀོབ་ཊར (he le kob ṭar)
Tigrinya: ሄሊኮፕተር (helikoptär)
Tok Pisin: helikopta
Turkish: helikopter (tr)
Turkmen: wertolýot
Ukrainian: вертолі́т (uk) m (vertolít), гелікопте́р m (helikoptér)
Urdu: بالگرد‎ (bālgard), ہیلی کاپٹر‎ m (helī kāpṭar)
Uyghur: تىك ئۇچار ئايروپىلان‎ (tik uchar ayropilan), ۋېرتاليوت‎ (wërtalyot)
Uzbek: tikuchar (uz), vertolyot (uz)
Vietnamese: máy bay lên thẳng (𣛠𠖤𨖲𣦎), máy bay trực thăng (vi) (𣛠𠖤直昇), trực thăng (vi) (直昇)
Volapük: tovaskrubian
Welsh: hofrennydd (cy) m
Yiddish: העליקאָפּטער‎ m (helikopter)

machine for spreading concrete — see trowel machine

Verb

helicopter (third-person singular simple present helicopters, present participle helicoptering, simple past and past participle helicoptered)

(transitive) To transport by helicopter.
(intransitive) To travel by helicopter.
To rotate like a helicopter blade.
helicoptering his jacket, helicoptering his arms
To overprotect one's children, as a helicopter parent does.

Translations

to transport by helicopter

Finnish: kuljettaa helikopterilla
French: héliporter (fr)
Italian: elitrasportare

to travel by helicopter

Finnish: matkustaa helikopterilla

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Spanish: helicopterear

Romanian

Noun

helicopter n (plural helicoptere)

Alternative form of elicopter

Declension

Declension of helicopter

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) helicopter	helicopterul	(niște) helicoptere	helicopterele
genitive/dative	(unui) helicopter	helicopterului	(unor) helicoptere	helicopterelor
vocative	helicopterule		helicopterelor